Uber Eats, the food
delivery arm of the ridesharing company Uber ($UBER), launched delivery
services for all Starbucks ($NASDAQ:SBUX) in San Francisco after a successful
test of the service in Miami. Now that its Starbucks delivery service is off
the ground, it plans to expand to Los Angeles, Chicago, New York City, Washington
D.C., and Boston all within the next weeks.

The deal with Starbucks
adds about 3,500 Uber Eats-eligible locations in six massive hubs for American
business. Specifically, Uber Eats is targeting busy workers who are too busy
(or too cold) to run out and grab a coffee, and then have to buy a scone,
sandwich, or something else to make that $2.49 booking fee more of an
afterthought than half the bill.

Starbucks locations in
these cities are nearly everywhere one would have to work. In Washington D.C., there
are 5 Starbucks on K Street, as well as two right near Capitol Hill.

In San Francisco, there
are plenty of Starbucks baristas frothing it up in the Financial District.

And, in Manhattan,
there is a Starbucks on virtually every corner.

In the case of Boston,
Starbucks delivery via Uber Eats will soon be available to more than 100,000
college students across 40+ colleges, as well as their professors and other
staff.

According to the writer
of this piece, when Boston freezes over and thousands of college students are
in their dorm rooms studying or “studying,” they aren’t going to step
outside to grab that Caramel Macchiato unless it is absolutely necessary (i.e.
on the way to class). This is especially the case at Boston University, which
has 11 Starbucks in and around the city campus and has the largest student
enrollment in the city.

Furthermore, according
to executives at the company (as reported by CNBC), Uber Eats excels in dense
urban areas with low delivery fees and tend to spend more on food than in
stores. Translation? These cities that Uber Eats targeted are prime not only
for the company itself, but also potentially Starbucks, who would be more than
happy to move breakfast sandwich and cake pop inventory around.

On paper, the deal
looks like a home run for Uber Eats as it continues to expand globally.
Meanwhile, parent company Uber waits patiently for the U.S. government to
reopen so it can file an IPO.

What this gives Uber
Eats in the delivery wars

Despite having an
incredible international presence, Uber Eats’ portfolio in America is lacking
compared to competitors. According to our December study of 10 food delivery
companies, Uber Eats had 62,075 places to order from in America, while Grubhub
and DoorDash claimed over 100,000 locations each.

Adding 3,500 Starbucks
locations doesn’t put too much of a dent into its competitors, but should this
roll-out succeed, Uber Eats could be looking at an additional 11,000
(approximately) locations where it can deliver from. That would expand its
footprint to the size of GrubHub, whose Seamless and traditional GrubHub
services have plenty of overlap.